


Spilled coffee~

by mkhhhx



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Gen, It was painful writing this, Sad, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-25 11:38:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7531306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mkhhhx/pseuds/mkhhhx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jooheon works in a small neighborhood cafe.<br/>His regulars all have different stories to tell.</p><p>Just a collection of connected stories, about 250 words each~</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The reporter.

“Minhyuk, why do people write?”  
“Maybe they are happy and want to keep their memories forever. Maybe they are too sad and want to leave their memories on the paper.”

 

He was here every day. He entered the small coffee shop with his bag hanging from his shoulders.   
So thin, almost like he was about to scatter on the floor with every step closer to his table at the corner.  
This table, was reserved by Jooheon, only for the lean guy wearing thick black glasses and a long matching coat.  
He ordered black coffee or green tea. He always left before it got too dark. A strange guy, everyone said.   
It was snowing so hard that evening Jooheon thought he would not come. But he did, in his black coat and red scarf, his lips bloody from biting and eyes watery from the cold air.  
They were alone in the small café, the radio playing slow, American songs and the wind whipping the windows. 

“Coffee please.” He said.   
“You are a writer”, Jooheon stated, placing two mugs on the table.   
“I’m a reporter” the man smiled, “I’m searching for the truth.”  
“Where?”  
“In people’s stories.”  
“Have you found it yet?”  
“I figured it may not exist.”  
“Do you want to hear my story?”

They talked until coffee was replaced by tea and tea was replaced by cheap whiskey.

“What are you gonna do with my story?”  
“I only want the facts, I am a reporter you see. “  
“Do you work for someone?”  
“A small newspaper, but sometime, I’ll make it to the news.”

And he did.

“Young reporter found dead from hypothermia “the radio said.   
He never found the truth.


	2. The Troublemaker.

“Minhyuk, why do people fight?”  
“Because they feel empty and need to confirm they are worth something.”

 

Everyone in the small neighborhood knew Shin Hoseok.  
He was a troublemaker ever since his school days, that’s what people were saying.

Jooheon saw him sometimes when he was walking back home late at night.   
He saw the man smoking and drinking, picking fights and sleeping on benches.   
It was a surprise when he entered the small café, all eyes on him.  
Jooheon took his order, a chocolate milkshake. He observed him, drinking it fast like a scared animal.  
He left money on the table, with a tip and muttered thank you before swinging the door open. 

Every Saturday morning, Shin Hoseok came for his milkshake and left an extra tip before going.  
People stopped talking about him, pulling their children closer when he walked towards them.   
He was still spending time in the park, but now feeding the birds. His hair was not oily and his clothes didn’t have holes. 

“Will you tell me your story?”  
“Where do I start from hyung?”  
Jooheon overheard the two men that day.  
He overheard how his classmates made fun of his ears and he started wearing beanies while growing out his hair.   
How he attended his mother’s funeral when he was eight. How he fought with his father when he said he wanted to leave for Seoul and not take over the family business.   
How some months ago he decided to ask for help. How the cops broke two of his ribs one time they found him sleeping in the park.   
How he felt being sober and finding his first actual job and apartment.  
And how his mother never had the money for the milkshake he asked.


	3. The Father.

“Minhyuk, why do people abandon their kids?”  
“It’s not always their fault. Please don’t think like that. I’m sure they had no other way.”

“Good evening hyung and noona!”  
Hyunwoo was smiling, his hand casually resting on Bora’s waist.  
“Drinks for everyone, we are getting married!”

Jooheon was invited at the wedding as “the husband’s favorite waiter”. He put on his only suit and wished the best for the couple.   
He even saved some money to buy them a small present for their new house. 

The first time the couple stepped in with a stroller, he was surprised. The second time he prepared lollipops. 

Almost four years had passed when the little boy was running around the café, hiding behind his apron.

“Uncle Jooheon, will you give me a cookie?”  
And Hyunwoo was smiling again, full of pride.

“Hyung?”  
He had entered the shop half an hour ago, alone in the middle of the night and had not let a single word out. He was crying, his head buried in his arms.   
“Hyung, please talk to me. I’m making you a drink.”  
Son Hyunwoo was a good person. He didn’t deserve his boss shouting at him. He didn’t deserve getting robbed the night his son was crying and he went out to buy him a toy.   
He didn’t deserve coming early from work to find his wife with an other man.   
He didn’t deserve the court’s decision. 

A miniature of the man was playing with Jooheon’s apron, like nothing had changed.  
“I can only see him on weekends” his voice cracked.


	4. The Doctor

“Minhyuk, why do people make decisions they regret?”  
“Because sometimes these decisions aren’t truly theirs.”

“I lost a patient.”  
It only got worse every time. As seasons passed, the look on his eyes started giving away his mourning.   
He would rush into the café early at freezing winter mornings to get his sweet coffee and late at scorching summer nights for a bitter drink.   
“Yoo Kihyun is so talented.” People chanted leaving him flowers. A small gesture of gratitude for curing their loved ones.  
“I lost a patient.” He cried, his hands shaking.   
A boy with his toy firetruck, an old man drunk on his hopes, a woman smiling to her children.  
“Tell them I’ll be okay doctor.”   
He lied.  
Although he had saved a thousand people, he could only remember the ones whose demise came on his gloved hands.   
Every night he drank and mourned for them.   
“Such a shame, I wanted to become a singer and build a family.” Once he said to himself.  
Flowers kept coming, his monthly income rising, his shifts more bearable.   
Everyone praised and smiled, what a great doctor he was. 

He told Jooheon one lonely night. Now women saw him as “the doctor”, hoping to get their share of his fame and money.   
He stopped dating them. At least whores were truthful about their feelings.  
“I lost a patient”, he muttered, his hands unsteady on the table.  
It was the second time in three months, stress taking over his body, black circles and red eyes, a note of grey already decorating his hair.

What a pity the cardiologist’s heart gave up on him.  
“We lost the doctor.”


	5. The Farmer

“Minhyuk, why do people leave?”  
“Maybe to pursue the happiness they didn’t search for at the first place. “

 

“You are so clever, you’ll become a scientist” his parents were saying again.  
He went out to play with the dog.

“You are so bright, you’ll enter one of the best universities” his professor praised, handing back his exam.   
He went out to play football.

“You must be stupid”, his friends said when he announced he’ll not go to the university he was accepted in. 

“He’s not stupid, he knows what he’s doing” his mother calmed down his father when he saw the ripped letter.

“He has lost his mind” people said when he entered the small café in his muddy boots.

“She must be blind” the neighbors whispered to each other when the newly wed couple moved to a new house,   
further from the center of the city. 

“You are silly for not coming” his friends texted him from Seoul,   
sending pictures of luxurious apartments under a grey sky and writing how much money they made in cramped offices.

Changkyum still ordered the simplest coffee and read his newspaper every evening.

“Mum, he must be really happy” his daughter said when she found him sleeping in a meadow of purple flowers.  
He had planted them one by one.  
And he was really happy.


	6. The Friend.

“Minhyuk, why do people forget?”  
“Because they’d rather not find the power to forgive.”

 

Jeooheon had a lot of favourite customers. Not only those who left generous tips but mostly those who talked to him kindly,  
treating him like a human and not a personal serving machine of theirs.  
But he had one and only absolutely favorite customer.

Every time he entered Jooheon jumped around like a little kid.  
Not once he had let him pay.

“It’s on the house” he always smiled.  
“I’m trying to pay back for your kindness” is what he meant.  
One time, his heart almost stopped when the man opened the door.  
“Why the hell white?”  
“The kids love it.”  
“And you love the kids way too much for your own good.”

Minhyuk was not loved only by the kids. He was loved by everyone.  
The young man with the bright smile working as a teacher in the orphanage.  
That’s what he was known as.

Monday to Friday, he worked from eight to four and stayed until seven to play with the kids.  
On Saturdays he helped the scouts prepare meals for the homeless.  
On Sundays, he went to the church and did community work afterwards.

“It’s on the house” a mug of hot chocolate was placed in front of him.  
“I’m grading papers, they’re doing so good Jooheon.”  
He smiled nodding, trying to avoid the next question.  
“Come visit sometime, the older ones miss you.”


	7. The Lover.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the last chapter? short story?  
> Anyway, things took a werd turn and there are mentions of a ship here, although it was not my primal intention.  
> Thank you for all the kudos and feedback :3

He entered the small apartment, changed clothes and went straight for the couch.  
He appreciated the peace and quiet the flat had to offer, as, apart from him, only elder people lived at the other floors.   
He helped the lady next door carry her shopping bags and was showered with compliments, she wanted him to meet her granddaughter.   
He helped the old couple of the first floor every time their cat got stuck on the tree in front of their balcony and the next morning he found boxes with homemade chocolate in front of his door.

“Small wonders happen every day” the reporter had said to him.   
His coat felt lighter walking out of the cemetery. He was the only one to leave flowers.   
He often questioned if the man finally found the truth. Or if he realized he would never find it.   
Either way, the facts said it was an accident and not a suicide attempt.  
Jooheon that night sat by himself.   
It was before closing hour but he would might as well sleep on a couch than go out in that freezing cold and knee-deep snow.   
The cons of living in a small city nested in the mountains.  
He made himself hot chocolate and looked at his figure reflecting on the window.  
People told him he had become a handsome man.   
Girls looked at him in a certain way he failed to understand.  
And he looked at a man in a certain way, again failing to understand.

The reporter had asked, if he fancied these looks. If he ever took his job as an opportunity to flirt a nice girl, slip his number beside her cup.   
The next day, a small paper was folded besides the green tea.  
It was a bliss that this part of his story was safe, as Hyungwon had decided to not write it down, just listen, just live it.  
He didn’t notice the door cracking open, but he felt the cold air slipping inside.  
“Sir we are closed” he grinned.  
The other man sat beside him, his hands paler than usual.  
He needed to get warm.  
It was the only time he didn’t leave before it got to dark.

“Minhyuk, why do people fall in love?”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm kinda sorry.


End file.
